Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)

I loved this film. The photography is breathtaking. the music lovely.The acting is amazing.
The film makers used effects to draw the viewer into Francis's frame of mind, and revelations, and I don't know the name for these effects, but they work well!
The movie was directed by Franco Zefferilli, who also made Romeo and Juliet.
I was so happy to be able to watch the complete movie through Youtube, and thought I'd share it here.

Now, for something a little different...

I have found the following video which is from the soundtrack of Brother Sun Sister Moon. It was recommended to me by a blogging friend. I have actually been able to download the full movie from Youtube, and may view it this evening. The visuals in this video are so lovely, and it gave me a sense of reprieve from our winter weather, so I thought it might be nice to share this here.

Has anyone of my wonderful readers here, ever seen this film? It looks quite magical. the music was composed and performed by Donavan, and when I heard this, I remembered his music very well, especially The Hurdy Gurdy Man. It also brought back memories of the somewhat more gentle time of flower power and the 60's. (Which of course wasn't really all gentle, by any means, but his music was maybe representative of the better side of this era.)

The music I've listened to so far in this soundtrack is just beautiful.The movie is about St. Francis of Assisi, who I've always thought sounded like an interesting person.

So I hope you might enjoy this. Wishing you a great week ahead!
Hugs.

A Silly Happening

We've had a week of fiercely cold temperatures here in Saskatchewan, and most of us are taking it in our stride.

Today the temperature was -36 with the windchill, and the wind was gusting up to 45 kilometers. This meant for very low visibility on the highway. The ride to work had a surreal feeling, with whiteout all around us.

So, the day started with a sense of suspension of disbelief, I think.

Me and my co-workers seemed to have made the same decision to just relax, and have as much fun as possible with our young toddler aged children. I took my small group of five children to the storage room where we found handfuls of bubble wrap, and we made a stop at our digital frame in the hallway, to remove the memory card as usual. We generally try to take some pictures of our morning's activities to share with the parents through the wonderful technology of the digital frame.

We then joined the others and began having fun taping the bubble wrap to a table, as well as the floor. This involved the children having small lengths of tape, which is one of their favourite things, really. We taped for some time, and not just on the bubble wrap.

Some of the children took off their shoes and socks to walk on the bubble wrap; some drove cars on the bubble wrap; a few also found that popping the bubbles was fun.

Another teacher brought out flashlights, we turned off the lights, and closed a blind, to play with the flashlights.

I then decided it might be interesting to make rubbings on the bubble wrap with paper and chalk. I and two of my children went off again to get more paper from the storage room. By this time the lights were back on, and I decided to start taking pictures.

I couldn't find the memory card. I quietly began to look for it in the places I had been, the counter, the art shelf, on the floor where we had been taping bubble wrap; I opened the door and peeked out to a shelf outside the door. I felt a little foolish about having lost this, and part of the reason is that I do tend to be forgetful now and then...and my coworkers are quite abit younger.

It took me awhile but finally I told the others," hmm...I've lost the memory card."

Soon the three of us adults were looking under carpets, and checking on the toyshelves.The children began to help us in the search with their tiny little flashlights.

I had almost given up hope, although we have a philosophy that almost everything does turn up in our room.

However, Alice, who's birthday it is today, slowly began to sort through the trash can, and found it!!! She was very good natured about it.

It struck me that it was a little bit of silly fun to lose a "memory" card.

And just a little postscript:
 One of my children found popping the bubbles on the wrap so interesting that she enjoyed doing this quietly, for over 40 minutes later in the afternoon.

Moments like that are part of why I love working with young children.

The ride home felt almost as surreal - the snow blowing to about 2 feet off the highway, looking somewhat like mist.

Just a little update

Our weather here in Saskatchewan is bitterly cold this weekend. The temperature has been staying near -42 Celsius with the windchill.We have also experienced record setting snowfalls. However most of us in this city seem to have become acclimatized to the cold and carry on with running errands, going for coffee, and many good, hardy souls also keep their walks shoveled.

I  find that shoveled walks makes such a difference to me, as I have a three block walk to my bus stop.Somehow, even though, it is still dark out when I come home from work, and extremely cold, just being able to walk safely, and easily on the sidewalks all the way home, feels encouraging.

My weekend was busy, with a 5 hour staff meeting on Saturday, and then lunch and shopping with a good friend, today. I've become much used to commuting out to work, there is something fine, and almost courageous about our little daycare out in this small town.About half of the 26 employees live in outlying towns and villages, and the rest of us live in the city. We all must drive some distances on the highway every day, and somedays the driving has been quite dangerous. Sadly 2 weeks ago, there was a traffic fatality, just the next junction from us, and traffic was held up. Our employer was so good at making sure staff left early, as she slowly sent people home through the afternoon.

Last week I was home sick with the flue, and spent my time sleeping, reading, and viewed a few movies on my computer, through Netflix.

The movie I enjoyed the most was Darling Companion, with Diane Keaton, and Kevin Kline. It's a simple, sweet story of the impact one small rescued dog has on a family.

I also watched two shows from the old Fawlty Towers series, with John Cleese. This was a favourite of mine years ago. I plan to continue to watch these. I think they are still very good, and really funny.

I enjoyed reading The Roundhouse, by Louise Erdrich, which is her latest, and won the National Book Award this past year. I have read almost all her adult books, (she also writes books for children), and I never fail to be pulled right in by her amazing storytelling ability, into stories of pain, but also illuminated with wisdom and redemption.

The other book I am reading is The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown, a social work professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. I chose the book when I came upon it in a bin at the grocery store. First the name appealed to me, and second, the book appeared to be based on research by someone who seemed to be a solid professional. So far I'm liking what this author writes about accepting and embracing being imperfect, and through this being worthy, or good enough. According to the back of the book, her work has been the subject of two TED talks so I think I'll look for these.

I've chosen a new profile pic, for the start of a new year. I was blessed with a mother who, among many wonderful things, loved to take pictures, so I've a good selection of pictures to choose. I like the picture I've used, as it makes me happy, to think that I was once this exuberant, and delightful child.

  I'm beginning to feel good about 2013, and look forward to what it may hold. This coming Saturday, I begin a course in Programming for Infants and Toddlers - taking it over 6 weeks. And when that course is complete I'm thinking of another, possibly on Observing Young children.

Herbert and Arthur are well. I think they have gotten used to me at home over the last week. I know I did enjoy sleeping through the afternoons with their (relatively) little bodies curled up, one at my feet, and the other near my chin.

Soon it will be February, and our days are definitely getting longer.

Take care my friends.
Hugs.

Wishes for 2013

Here it is the end of the first week of the new year - and I've had a wonderful visit with my son - I was able to have 5 days off over Christmas, as the daycare center where I work had very few children in need of care for Christmas week, and we were offered time off. I worked just three days over a week and a half.

It was good to reconnect with Paul - we visited family; went for coffee at a favourite coffee spot; saw two movies; and just hung out together. For me, it was a precious time, as I hadn't expected to have this time off.

We saw The Hobbit, in 3D, and I did enjoy it, although I definitely had been aware that the movie had it's share of unfavourable reviews. I loved the scenery, and the story, which I was able to remember from reading The Hobbit, back years ago. Both Paul, and I felt we will be interested to see the continuation of the story when it comes out.

We planned to see The Life of Pi, but didn't get to it this time. But we did see Jack Reacher, which I was curious to see, as some of the people, whose wonderful blogs I enjoy to read, follow this book series by Lee Childs. And although the movie was very violent,  I can see how the character of Jack is pretty charismatic - he's sort of a heroic drifter in a similar way to The Fugititive. I plan to read a Jack Reacher book in the future.

Instead of making a new year's resolution, I am just trying to successfully work at my new job for at least one year. The transportation has felt like a challenge, until just ths week, after a good holiday, and it is now feeling easier. I guess it just took a couple of months to get comfortable with the commuting time, and as well a good visit with my son. :)

I'll, be taking a facilitated study course in Caring for Infants and Toddlers, through our community college, and I'm very fortunate that my employer is covering the cost of the course and materials.This is a decision on my part to be a success where I am, as working with this age group is new for me, and taking the course will mean a lot of assignments and reading, on top of my 11 to 12 hour days working and traveling.

I've been tinkering with the idea of making a change and returning to school for a 2 year course in library tech work; but since daycare is where I now find myself, and I know I do it well, I think I'll give this year a good try.

Well, I have been thinking out loud here I know, so I must thank you if you've had the patience to read this - and I whole heartedly wish you success in your goals and endeavors this year!
Hugs!!!